Sex and Sexuality in Islam, Part 4

Child marriage and having sex with a minor

Many
countries have banned child marriage, which is a scourge to
humanity. This type of marriage was quite common in the ancient
Hindu system of marriage in India. In many ancient literatures we
find that children, as little as five or six years of age, were
engaged in marriages by their parents. When those children grew up
to become adults, they were forced to live a conjugal life that, in
many cases, they abhorred. This practice was nothing but the child
abuse of the worst kind. However, with reforms in Hinduism by its
pioneering humanist activists, this utterly despicable custom is now
a thing of the past, at least in the legal sense. But how about
Islam? Islamists often proclaim that their religion is the most
up-to-date and the most progressive of all religions. Therefore, one
may legitimately conclude that the system of child/infant marriage
must be illegal in Islam. This, however, is a big deception! The
truth is, in Islam there is no minimum age for marriage. Thus,
marrying an infant, even a newly born suckling baby is very much
halal or an approved thing.

The cruelest part of this tyrannical child-sex
slavery is that the marriage is absolutely binding if contracted by
the parents. That is, the couple must consummate the marriage when
they become adult.

Here are the Sha'ria rules on infant
marriage:

Hedaya (ref. 11, p.36) Infant marriage
permitted

Case in which the marriage of infants
continues binding after puberty If the marriage of infants be
contracted by the father or grandfathers, no option after puberty
remains to them; because the determination of parents in this matter
cannot be suspected to originate in sinister motives as their
affection for their offspring is undoubted; wherefore the marriage
is binding upon the parties, the same as if they had themselves
entered into it after maturity.

Case which admits an option of
acquiescence after puberty But if the authority of others than
their parents should have executed the contract, each is
respectively at liberty, after they become of age, to choose whether
the marriage shall be confirmed or annulled.

The Prophet of Islam, Muhammad (pbuh),
himself married a child of six (or seven) years old. Many articles
have recently been written about this child bride of Muhammad. I
shall refer the readers to read those articles elsewhere. Here are
two hadith from the Sahi (authentic) of all
ahadith to confirm the marriage of Muhammad (pbuh) with a child
who was still playing with her dolls when the Prophet of Islam took
her to his house to consummate (to have sex with her) the marriage.

Sahih Muslim Book 008, Number 3311:

'A'isha (Allah be pleased with her) reported that Allah's Apostle
(may peace be upon him) married her when she was seven years old,
and he was taken to his house as a bride when she was nine, and her
dolls were with her; and when he (the Holy Prophet) died she was
eighteen years old.

Sahih Bukhari Volume 5, Book 58, Number
236:

Narrated Hisham's father:
Khadija died three years before the Prophet departed to Medina. He
stayed there for two years or so and then he married 'Aisha when
she was a girl of six years of age, and he consumed that marriage
when she was nine years old.

Here is how the Prophet used to have fun and
sex with his child bride.

Sahih Bukhari Volume 1, Book 6, Number
298:

Narrated 'Aisha:

The Prophet and I used to take a bath from a single pot while we
were Junub. During the menses, he used to order me to put on an
Izar (dress worn below the waist) and used to fondle me. While in
Itikaf, he used to bring his head near me and I would wash it
while I used to be in my periods (menses).

Sahih Muslim Book 3, Number 0629:

'A'isha reported: I and the Messenger (may
peace be upon him) took a bath from the same vessel and our hands
alternated into it in the state that we had had sexual
intercourse.

Can we ever imagine how an over fifty years old
man could fondle his pre-teen wife during her menstrual cycle! By
the way, the meaning of Junub is sexual defilement, that
is, the state after having sex.

If you thought that marrying a girl of six
years old and having sex with her when she turns nine is too much to
digest then there is more surprise for you!

In the Sirat Rasul, we read the
incredible story that Muhammad, himself, wanted to marry a crawling
baby girl a few years before his death. This happened after he
married A'isha. The following citation is from the book of Sirat
Rasul Allahby Ibn Ishak, the most authentic biographer of Muhammad (pbuh)
Most other biographies are based on this monumental work by Ibn
Ishak/Ibn Hisham:

(Suhayli, ii.79: In the riwaya of Yunus I.I recorded that
the apostle saw her (Ummu'l-Fadl) when she was baby crawling before
him and said, 'If she grows up and I am still alive I will marry
her.' But he died before she grew up and Sufyan b. al-Aswad b.
Abdu'l-Asad al-Makhzumi married her and she bore him Rizq and Lubaba....(ref.10,
p. 311)

Elsewhere, we note that even Hazrat Omor or
Umar (spelling variation) married Umm Kulthum, the four years old
half-sister of Bibi A'isha!How fantastic!

These are the examples that the noblest of
the nobles of Islam have left for their followers to emulate!

Riza or fosterage by suckling

Have you ever thought of an adult Muslim man
marrying an infant (less than two years old) as well as an adult
woman who has a suckling baby? What happens if the baby that is
married has no one to suckle her (say, she is an orphan) except the
adult lactating wife? Of course, the solution in today's world is to
bottle-feed the infant wife with formula milk. However, this may not
be the true Islamic solution. Here is the Islamic answer:

Hedaya (ref. 11, p.71)

Case of one of two wives suckling the
other IF a man marry an infant and an adult and the latter
should give milk to the former, both wives become prohibited with
respect to that man [their husband], because if they were to
continue united in marriage to him, it would imply the propriety of
joint cohabitation with the foster-mother and her foster-daughter,
which is prohibited, in the same manner as joint cohabitation with a
natural mother and daughter. IT is to be observed on this occasion,
that if the husband should not have had carnal connexion with the
adult wife, she is not entitled to any dower whatever because the
separation has proceeded from her, before consummation:-- but the
infant has a claim to her half dower, the separation not having
proceeded from her.

So far, what I mentioned above relates to an
adult man marrying an infant girl. How about an infant boy marrying
a grown up girl (nine years and above)? As per Islamic Sharia,
there is, of course, no restriction on this practise. The only means
by which a child can be prevented from marrying a grown up girl
(that is to make him halal to visit her and be with her in
privacy) is through a peculiar system in Islam known as RIZA
or Rid'a.

The Dictionary of Islam (ref. 6, p.546)
defines RIZA thus:

RIZA. A legal term, which means sucking milk
from the breast of a woman for a certain time.

The legal definition of RIZA is given in
HEDAYA(ref. 11 ) as follows:

RIZA, or fosterage (Ibid, p.67)

Definition of the term Riza, in its
legal sense, means a child suckling milk from the breast of a woman
for a certain time, which is termed the period of fosterage.

This is the Islamic name for suckling through
fosterage. It is the practice by which a newly born baby is handed
over to another woman who is able to suckle the infant. It was (and
still is) a practice by the rich Arabs by which they hand over their
newly born infants to be suckled by Beduin women. Even Prophet
Muhammad (pbuh) was suckled, initially, by Thueiba, a slave woman of
his uncle Abu Lahab for a very brief period, and then, by his foster
mother, Halima.

Here is a hadith proclaiming the
restrictions by fosterage:

What is haram by birth is also haram by
suckling...30.3.15

Malik's Muwatta: Book 30, Number 30.3.15:

Yahya related to me
from Malik from Abdullah ibn Dinar from Sulayman ibn Yasar and from
Urwa ibn az-Zubayr from A'isha umm al-muminin, that the Messenger of
Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, " What is
haram by birth is haram by suckling

This practice will make the child being
suckled to be haram to the foster mother. That is, the
child, when he grows up, has unhindered access to his foster mother.
It is, as if, the foster mother is the 'real mother' of the child.
There is no problem with this noble provision, of course. So, where
is the trouble? Let us examine the situation up close.

In Islam, a woman can be married at any age
even when she is a newly born baby. A foster mother can be any
woman, nine years or older, other than her own biological mother.
Imagine, a six-month old infant boy is suckled by a foster mother
who is slightly above nine years of age. Now, when the infant boy
becomes an adult of eighteen years (which is the age of Islamic
puberty for male) the foster mother is slightly above twenty-seven
years old, still a very youthful age for marriage, love, sex and
childbearing. According to the Islamic law, the foster mother is
completely forbidden to marry this newly turned adult male. He
cannot even marry his foster sister.

Here are a few rules on Islamic suckling or
fosterage from the 'Reliance of the Traveller', the most authentic
Sha'ria book (ref. 8,pp.575-576)

n12.0 BECOMING UNMARRIAGEABLE KIN BY SUCKLING (RIDA')

n12.1 An infant becomes the "child" of the
female who breast-feeds him (A: in respect to being unable to marry
her, to the permissibility of looking at her and being alone with
her, and inhis ablution (wudu) not being nullified by
touching her) when:

(a)the milk
comes from a female at least nine years old whether it is occasioned
by sexual or something else;

(b)and she
breast-feeds a child who is less than two full years old;

(c)in at least
five separate breast-feedings (O:a restriction that excludes
anything less than five; which is of no consequence. Separate
breast-feedings means whatever is commonly acknowledged (def: f4.5)
to be separate)

n12.2 In such a case:

(1)It is
unlawful for the wet nurse to marry the child and its subsequent
descendants (O: by familial relation or by suckling) exclusively (O:
exclusively meaning that only the child's descendants
become unlawful for her to marry, not the child's ancestors (N: or
brothers)):

(2)She becomes
the child's "mother," and it is unlawful for the child to marry her,
her ancestors (O: by familial relation or by suckling), her
descendants (O: who become as if they were brothers and sisters (O:
though the child is not forbidden to marry the latter's children).

In ahadith we read a few interesting
stories about RIZA. Here are some samples.

Aisha's sister Umm Kulthum suckled Salim ibn
Abdullah ibn Umar only three times; that is why it was haram for him
to visit Aisha; if suckled ten times by Kulthum then he would be
halal for her...30.1.7

Malik's Muwatta: Book 30, Number 30.1.7:

Yahya related to me from Malik from Nafi that Salim ibn Abdullah ibn
Umar informed him that A'isha umm al-muminin sent him away while he
was being nursed to her sister Umm Kulthum bint Abi Bakr as-Siddiq
and said, "Suckle him ten times so that he can come in to see me."

Salim said, "Umm Kulthum nursed me three times and then fell ill, so
that she only nursed me three times. I could not go in to see A'isha
because Umm Kulthum did not finish for me the ten times."

Ten suckle is required for a boy to be halal
to visit a woman...30.1.8

Malik's Muwatta :Book 30, Number
30.1.8:

Yahya related to me from Malik from Nafi that Safiyya bint Abi Ubayd
told him that Hafsa, umm al-muminin, sent Asim ibn Abdullah ibn Sad
to her sister Fatima bint Umar ibn al-Khattab for her to suckle him
ten times so that he could come in to see her. She did it, so he
used to come in to see her.

(Please note that ten suckling was later
abrogated by five suckles)

Malik's Muwatta:Book 30, Number
30.3.17:

Yahya related to me from Malik from Abdullah ibn Abi Bakr ibn Hazm
from Amra bint Abd ar-Rahman that A'isha, the wife of the Prophet,
may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, "Amongst what was
sent down of the Qur'an was 'ten known sucklings make haram' - then
it was abrogated by 'five known sucklings'. When the Messenger of
Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, died, it was what is
now recited of the Qur'an."

Yahya said that Malik said, "One does not act on this."

Needless to say that in an Islamic paradise,
RIZA will be a perfectly rightful method to solve the
problem of milk supply for the babies. Now, imagine what will happen
to the marriage market if most women give up their infants to their
foster mothers for a limited period of time! The marriage market
will come to a halt, no joke. Most potential suitors will be
forbidden for each other due to RIZA or suckling by
fosterage, isn't it?

Of course, I cited an extreme scenario of
Islamic fosterage.Modern world is not at all dependent on RIZA
or suckling by fosterage. We have formula milk for those infants
whose mothers are unable to breast-feed them for one reason or
other. However, I could not find any Sha'ria rule where
bottle-feeding can be used as an alternative to RIZA. See,
in the seventh century medieval period, there was no baby formula
milk, nor was there any concept of bottle-feeding as an alternative
to suckling. Therefore, those Bedouin Arabs resorted to RIZA
to solve the mother's milk supply problem.

An interesting argument will be to know if a
lactating woman can suckle an adult man or not? Tauba! Tauba!What
a preposterous idea!Islam can never allow such a thing. It is a
thought only provoked by Satan, the Islamists will declare.
It is true that we find no mention of legitimacy of suckling an
adult man or an adult woman in Sha'ria. Neither there is
any mention of its illegality.In a few ahdith, we find
mind-boggling episodes on RIZA. Let us review a few of
them.

A woman can suckle a young boy so that he
becomes haram for her... 8.3426

Sahih Muslim: Book 008, Number 3426:

Ibn Abu Mulaika reported that al-Qasim b. Muhammad b. Abu Bakr had
narrated to him that 'A'isha (Allah be pleased with her) reported
that Sahla bint Suhail b. 'Amr came to Allah's Apostle (may peace be
upon him) and said: Messenger of Allah, Salim (the freed slave of
Abu Hudhaifa) is living with us in our house, and he has attained
(puberty) as men attain it and has acquired knowledge (of the sex
problems) as men acquire, whereupon he said: Suckle him so that he
may become unlawful (in regard to marriage) for you He (Ibn Abu
Mulaika) said: I refrained from (narrating this hadith) for a year
or so on account of fear. I then met al-Qasim and said to him: You
narrated to me a hadith which I did not narrate (to anyone)
afterwards. He said: What is that? I informed him, whereupon he
said: Narrate it on my authority that 'A'isha (Allah be pleased with
her) had narrated that to me.

Sex with slave-girls/captive women is a
perfectly valid Islamic way for a Muslim man to satisfy his sexual
appetite. How about his wife?No, his wife can never indulge in such
sex orgies. Therefore, it is quite natural for the unfortunate wife
to be jealous (read mad) to prevent her husband from indulging in
such vulgarity. Can RIZA be successfully applied here?
Well, an extremely jealous woman did just that. She went to the
young adult slave-girl and suckled her with her breast. This made
the slave-girl haram to her husband. What a novel idea it
was to prevent her amorous husband from having further intercourse
with the slave-girl! Alas! It did not work out well for her. Who
received the punishment? Yes, it was the lactating wife of the
Muslim man! Hazrat Umar asked her to be flogged, thus protecting the
right of her husband to have unhindered sex orgy with his
slave-girl. It sounds mind boggling, isn't it? Here is the story
from Malik's Muwatta, the founder of Maliki School of Islamic
jurisprudence.

Umar told a man to beat his wife for suckling
a slave-girl with whom he used to have sex; kinship by suckling is
only by the suckling of the young...30.2.13

Malik's Muwatta: Book 30, Number 30.2.13:

Yahya related to me from Malik that Abdullah ibn Dinar said, "A man
came to Abdullah ibn Umar when I was with him at the place where
judgments were given and asked him about the suckling of an older
person. Abdullah ibn Umar replied, 'A man came to Umar ibn al-Khattab
and said, 'I have a slave-girl and I used to have intercourse with
her. My wife went to her and suckled her. When I went to the girl,
my wife told me to watch out, because she had suckled her!' Umar
told him to beat his wife and to go to his slave-girl because
kinship by suckling was only by the suckling of the young.' "

Is it possible to extend the concept of
RIZA to a husband and his wife/s?

Wastagferullah! Wastagferullah!
Naujubillah! No sane Muslim can even think of committing this
despicable act, Islamists will say. However, what we find in the
Holy Scripture is quite upsetting, to say the least.

If you drink your wife's milk than that does
not make the relationship haram, there is only kinship by
suckling in the first two years...30.2.14

Malik's Muwatta:Book 30, Number
30.2.14:

Yahya related to me from Malik from Yahya ibn Said that a man said
to Abu Musa al-Ashari, "I drank some milk from my wife's breasts and
it went into my stomach." Abu Musa said, "I can only but think that
she is haram for you." Abdullah ibn Masud said, "Look at what
opinion you are giving the man." Abu Musa said, "Then what do you
say?" Abdullah ibn Masud said, "There is only kinship by suckling in
the first two years."

Abu Musa said, "Do not ask me about anything while this learned man
is among you."

Who was Abdullah ibn Masud? He was among the
closest ten companions of Muhammad (pbuh) who was promised paradise
by him. Every word uttered by ibn Masud is considered to be
completely authentic. In fact, his position could be easily
considered next to Muhammad. Now, what did ibn Masud say in the
above hadis? Readers, please think about its implication. Yes, a
husband can drink his wife's milk and still can remain her sex
partner. Strange Islamic rules! Here is another silly hadis:

It is permissible to have intercourse with a
suckling lady...8.3391

Shahih Muslim:Book 008, Number
3391:

Judaima daughter of Wahb al-Asadiyya (Allah be pleased with her)
reported that she heard Allah's Messenger (may peace be upon him) as
saying: I intended to prohibit cohabitation with a suckling woman
until I considered that the Romans and the Persians do it without
any injury being caused to their children thereby. (Imam Muslim
said: Khalaf reported it from Judamat al-'Asadiyya, but the correct
wording is what has been stated by Yahya.)

The reason why suckling the milk of a woman
by her adult husband is quite alright is explained in the following
lines by Malik. When the adult drinks the milk of his wife, the milk
is treated as a food and not as foster milk! This, indeed is the
bizarre Islamic rule, to say the least.

Suckling is for the first two years, even if
it is only a drop; whatever is after two years is only food that is
eaten...30.1.10, 11

Malik's Muwatta:Book 30, Number
30.1.11:

Yahya related to me from Malik that Yahya ibn Said said that he
heard Said ibn al-Musayyab say, "Suckling is only while the child is
in the cradle. If not, it does not cause flesh and blood relations."

Yahya related to me from Malik from Ibn Shihab that he said,
"Suckling however little or much, makes haram. Kinship by suckling
makes men mahram."

Yahya said that he had heard Malik say, "Suckling, however little or
much when it is in the first two years, makes haram. As for what is
after the first two years, little or much, it does not make anything
haram. It is like food."

And finally, we have this gem of all
ahadith. Please read the following hadis and decide
whom shall you bash first, before you call me an Islam basher.

Mohammad disliked withdrawing the penis
before semen was discharged; he also disliked having intercourse
with a woman suckling a baby; but these were not
forbidden...34.4210

Sunaan Abu Dawud: Book 34, Number 4210:

Narrated Abdullah ibn Mas'ud:

The Prophet of Allah (peace_be_upon_him) disliked ten things: Yellow
colouring, meaning khaluq, dyeing grey hair, trailing the lower
garment, wearing a gold signet-ring, a woman decking herself before
people who are not within the prohibited degrees, throwing dice,
using spells except with the Mu'awwidhatan, wearing amulets,
withdrawing the penis before the semen is discharged, in the case of
a woman who is wife or not a wife, and having intercourse with a
woman who is suckling a child; but he did not declare them to be
prohibited.